THIRTY-FOUR uninterrupted years of membership of the National Executive Council (NEC) of the Ansar-Ud-Deen Society (ADS) with modest achievements calls for celebration and thanksgiving.
I was elected to the highest policy-making body of the society as the National Provincial Secretary in 1988 at national conference hosted by the Lagos State council at the Airport Hotel, Ikeja. The nomenclature was changed to National Organising Secretary at the Osogbo national conference in 1992, thus making Ibrahim Kilani the first National Organising Secretary of the ADS.
From 1989 to 1990, I was on the entourage of the late president, Shutti Ola Oki, that visited branches nationwide. I was part of the team that laid the foundation of Mokwa branch central mosque in Niger State and oversaw the inauguration of many branches like Igarra, Abuja, Kajola, Ijebu Owo, Lokoja, Abakaliki, Ikaram,Ugbe and Akunu.
I joined others at the Ibadan, Oyo State constitution review committee to put together our current constitution. Within the past 34 years, Alhamdulillah, I participated actively in the establishment of Adson Travel Agency, Summit University, Offa. I was member of the planning committees of many national conferences.
A harrowing moment was my involvement in a road accident while returning from a NEC meeting in Lagos. The accident led to the death of Alhaji Jinadu Ogunlayi, the then chairman of the old Ondo State, now Ondo and Ekiti states, on September 20, 1997.
However, a unique event that gladdened my heart was when I was conferred with a national merit award in Ascon Badary, Lagos State. I served under the following presidents: Alhaji Shutti Ola Oki, Alhaji Laisi Adenekan (acting president), Alhaji Bisiriyu Onisarotu, Alhaji Lateef Femi Okunu and the current national president, Alhaji AbdulRauf Ade Sanni. They are all committed Muslim leaders who have contributed immensely to the growth of the ADS and Islam in general.
As the national conference commences, I commit the delegates into the hands of Almighty Allah and wish the delegates happy deliberation.
Alhaji Kilani is the outgoing National Organising Secretary of the Ansar-Ud-Deen Society (ADS). He is a former chairman of the Ondo Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Board, former member of the Technical Committee on Hajj under Professor Abubakar Gandu; Chairman, Nigeria Interreligious Council (NIREC), Akoko North-West Local Government Area of Ondo State and President, Kilbra Islamic Propagation Centre.
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